Top Ten

OK so I'm not going to lie that June, July, and August are three great perks to being a teacher.  I kinda love summer, no, scratch that, I really love summer.  I love my kiddos dearly and invest my heart and soul into their learning for many months, so when the summer comes around, I am so ready to dive into the freedom.  

Here are my top 10 greatest things about summer:

10. Boy, oh boy, do I love to sleep in.  I mean the lay in bed without a reason to even open my eyes sleep in.  And then being able to sleep in means I get to stay up til all hours.  {This is a much better alternative to the 5:30 wake up call and 9:00 bedtime during the school year.}

9. Eating breakfast.  Mmmm I love making a big ol' stack of yummy protein chocolate chip pancakes.  As stated above, I love to sleep in so the best I can do for breakfast during the school year is a banana. Meh.

8. I get to run in the middle of the day.  Or bike ride or roller blade... {or do whatever I want} :)

7. Being able to meet up with friends according to their schedules is so great.  Lunch date with a friend?  Sure!  Walk around the lake in the day?  Of course!  So wonderful.

6. I have extra time in the kitchen to make so many goodies.  I have baked, cooked, blended, chopped, and prepared all sorts of tasty treats and I love it!

5.  I love reading books.  Wait, I do that every day teaching first grade; let me change that--- I love reading books with a reading level higher than fourth grade!  I'm already on my 2nd book for the summer.  Book club, here I come!

4.  So I pretty much wear the same 3 outfits all the time over the summer.  I go pretty basic.  I love clothes, but it's so nice to not haaaave to dress up! 

3.  Summer weather and activities are just a blast.  I love walking my doggie and laying out in the sun.  Biking, going to the lake, paddle boarding, canoeing... ahhhhh it all just makes me so happy!  I LOVE WARMTH AND SUNSHINE!

2.  Traveling.  I love going places and seeing people.  I cannot wait to get this summers' travels started.  Going up north to visit grandma and my pilgrimage to Missouri and Arkansas are already planned, and Florida is in the works!  We'll see if I can beat my record I set last summer. (28/30 days out of the state of MN)

 Are y'all ready for #1???? 

1.  I GET TO GO TO THE BATHROOM WHENEVER I NEED!!!!!  No more planned and scheduled potty breaks for me.  Best thing ever.

So as I stated above, I love summer.  When the time comes in August for me to get ready for my newest little polka dots, I'll be all ready for school mode {maybe}, but in the mean time, let's get this summer going!

True Heroes

I have been waiting what seems like forever to be able to post these darling messages written by my little firsties.  Way back on Veteran's Day we did a lot of discussing about Veterans and what they mean to us.  We talked about heroes and I showed my class various pictures of my trip to Hawaii to visit my brother who is an officer in the Navy.  Well, now my kids just think the world of my brother {a man they have never met :)} and we wrote thank you letters to him.  They are truly written from the hearts and words of my 6 and 7 year-olds, and boy are their sweet notes special.

So now that he has received his letters and the surprise is over, I can finally write about it!  Ahhhh they are just the cutest!!  I sure hope they made his day brighter when he received them!  

Here are some of the messages my brother got to read: (I only wish you could see their pictures they drew on the back of the papers.  They were just as sweet, I promise!)

This one is my favorite :)

Dear Chris, Thank you for serving our country.  Hope you sleep well.  How do you get air?

Dear Chris, Thank you for helping our country.  Do you like the Navy?  Do you like the submarine?  What do you do through the day?

 Dear Chris, Thank you for saving our country.  Do you like the see?  (see/sea, what's the difference??! :))

Dear Chris, Thank you for saving our world.  (Heart dotted i and everything!!)

Dear Friend, Do you like saving the day?  That you so much.  Yes you are nice.

Dear Chris, Thank you for serving our country.  What do you do up there?  What do you do in the submarine?  Do you hunt other submarines?

So, as you can see, their hearts are made of gold.  I am one proud teacher!!!

**A teacher's note: I am super impressed with their writing so far.  This is typical writing that I get on a daily basis from them and that's just after a little over 2 months in first grade!  For those that don't get to see a 1st grader write regularly, just think about what all they have to do while writing... they are not only thinking of ideas for their writing, but their sounds of the letters, how to form the letters, spelling patterns, capital letters (which obviously need work :)), and punctuation.  So much going on in their brains at a time!  I've gotta stick up for these little ones and just let you know how proud I am. :)

I have to also show you the soldiers we made in class.  Are they not the cutest??!

And finally, here is my brother, a true hero! 

For the Love of Mondays

What an ordeal, folks.  Fiiiiiiinally I am sitting all situated and ready to write.  I was looking forward to this moment since I left work {which was 4:15 by the way.... the earliest since needing to leave for my friend's wedding in September, I believe!!  I'm so proud of myself.  Baby steps.} What a night.  I ran my errands, got my veggies and fruits for the week, {and I didn't even pick up the chocolate donuts.  I may have glanced at them, well more like gazed, but I didn't even touch!} and bubbles for my kids' Valentines since those kids just make my heart pop. :)  Well, then after all my errand running, I decided to hit up Starbucks, with my computer, and sit and write my heart out until I realized the Starbucks I pulled up to was closed.  Yes, at 7:15 it was closed.  Hmmm.  So off to the next one I went.  There, they put whipped cream in my drink, and since I can't have it, I had to complain.  Ugh.  Then I went in to plug in my computer and realized that I brought my brother's charger which didn't help my battery with 6% life left.  Then I thought that the studious coffee-goers probably wouldn't want to be around my germing the place up.  So obviously I wasn't meant to be there!  But this is the sweet little face I got to come home to, so I couldn't be too sad. :)

So anyway, as I cuddle with my little puppy, I just sit and reflect about how much I just love Mondays.  I feel that I am so opposite of everyone.  Monday is the day that I get to reap the benefits of the hard work from the previous week of planning and late stays at school.  I also have a renewed mind and wide open heart for all the love of my kiddos.  It's like the stress of the week hasn't yet taken over my mind yet. Toward the end of the week, things build up and become so unbearable.  I really need to work on letting things go and being okay with things not being perfectly set in place.  Our principal gave us some great advice.  To choose one word at the beginning of the year to reflect upon throughout the year.  My word I chose is "simplify."  I am going to work on simplifying my lessons, prep work, and in the grand scheme of things, life in general.  I've gotta do something, cause this teacher isn't going to last much longer if I don't!  So there you have it, my goal in one word: simplify.  I even wrote it down to display so I see it every moment I am at my desk. {and of course it is complete with a polka dot border...gotta keep it in theme with the classroom, right?!}

What's new with my firsties??  Today one of my students randomly came up to me, while we were walking back to our classroom, and said, "Ms. Johnson.  Sometimes you are so funny!"  Well, I'm glad they think that.  Their sweet little comments just make me so happy.  No matter what, the love they have for their teacher shows so much.  They are so trusting which brings such great responsibility.  Sometimes I wonder how I was given charge over 20 precious little lives.  It's such a responsibility to know that the words I say, how well I teach, and how I make them feel can impact their lives.  Oh my golly, also I said the word butt in front of my whole class.  And, to make matters worse, I tried to cover it up, and they all had this huge delayed reaction of bubbling laughter.  Oh goodness.  I am so glad I didn't get any emails or calls over that one!  I was explaining the greater than/less than signs <,>, and I said that the alligator wants to eat the bigger number and its butt faces the smaller one.  Oops.  We had a good teachable moment on "slips of the tongue."  I feel like teaching has allowed me to learn to be more understanding and forgiving upon student mistakes and errors.  We are all human, after all, even when we are 6 and 7. 

We also did this adjective activity where we had to describe one another and their words to describe me were: crazy, funny, and strict.  Haha.  I can handle those words, I guess!  

On a side note, I am about to sign up for my first 5k in May!  AND I got my fabulous phone case in the mail today!  Ahh, it just makes me smile looking at it. I've jumped on the chevron stripe bandwagon.  Oh, and mint green is my new color. :)

Smiling's My Favorite

So often I get engulfed in the difficulties of life and let them swallow me up rather than pause to reflect on the beauty of the positive.  So, here’s my attempt at savoring the precious moments of life and making an effort at letting them outshine the negative.

Things that make me smile: 

*The fact that God sent his precious son to bear all of our sins.   The strongest kind of love there is, and he's offering it to us.  I know I will never be able to fathom it, but sometimes it just really hits me.

*When G (boy) breaks out into song randomly… my favorite: Party Rock Anthem.

*How L spelled the word August: Ogist (usin’ his sounds, man!)

*A girl took out 4 dollar bills and another child said that wasn't very much money, M replied, “Uh, yeah it is, she has 400 cents there.”

*When I had Christmas music playing while we worked, the whole class began to sing when “Silent Night” came on.  It was so peaceful and sweet.

*When I told S that he had a beautiful singing voice and R, who was standing right next to me started belting out some musical notes in her best opera voice.  Oh goodness… J

*When students go and sit right by Frizzle (our Elf on the Shelf) and start up a full conversation with him.

*The random hugs that I get throughout the day.

*This e-mail from one of my kiddo’s mom: "Thank you for all that you do and the care and love you display each and every day to the children you teach.  We so often take people for granted and we want you to know how much we truly appreciate you and are very blessed to have you leading X."  People do not realize how much these kids of words affect teachers.  This brought tears to my eyes and gave me JUST what I needed to get through the rest of the day, full of energy.

*This morning I heard a story about one of my boys who gave a quarter to a kiddo that didn't have one so he could buy a book from our book sale today.

*How R starts every sentence (well practically every sentence) with: “technically.”

*L was wearing a shirt that said “I didn't do it, my sister did,” and he told me “it’s a teaser.”  (love their vocab!)

*When kids come back from the bathroom with their shirts tucked into their underwear.

*When all my kids beg for me to read another story.

*When we were putting our fingerprints onto our elf applications to Santa, one kiddo put his entire finger (up to the palm) onto the ink pad and I said, “no, honey, just your finger.”  He looked at me confused and I realized how much we say that just doesn't always make sense to them.  He was doing it right according to my directions!

*My little girlie that goes to speech came back with a pencil and a note saying that she worked extra hard today so she could give me a pencil.  Later on the speech teacher came and told me that S asked if she could work hard to get a pencil for herself, and then extra hard to get a pencil for me too because I was having a rough day since M wasn't listening.  O.M.W.  How stinking sweet.  They put so much together in their cute little minds.

*G got 0 out of 5 addition problems to 10 wrong on her test last week, and after working so very hard for so long with her it was defeating.  But then, in a matter of a few days, she completed 10/11 addition problems correctly ON HER OWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Talk about a celebration.

*How G (same girl as above) has so much trouble identifying coins, let alone counting them up, but with the help of her parents and me pulling her in a group every day to work with her individually, she completed 6 counting coin problems ON HER OWN correctly.  I just cried.  And I’m crying now writing about it!  I can’t express how overjoyed I am.

*Frizzle (our Elf on the Shelf) gave us a mission to show kindness to one another.  Now, whenever a kid gets praised for showing kindness (such as offering to I pass out papers or hand their paper to someone else) there are always a few who, (while making eye contact with me) “copy” the act so they get praised too. J  Such cuties.  They’re really catching onto this kindness thing… I was actually going to fizzle it out because it seemed just like yet another tiny thing to manage, talk about, and plan, but they are really catching onto it.  Today I had so many reports of kind acts and I could see how it just lit up their little hearts!

*After hearing about our kindness mission and discussing how we don’t always get rewarded when we complete kind acts, this was R’s reply, “well, technically we do get rewarded because it fills our hearts up to the brim.”  Talk about cuteness.

*K comes up to me and says, “Did these {copies} take long to print?”  My reply: “no, not really.”  K:  “Oh, well you did a very nice job printing.”

*When the kids say, “Grabby hands don’t get,” as a reminder not to grab the papers from me when I pass them out.  Love how they catch on to so very much. 

That just touched the surface of the last few days in first grade.  By looking at the praises, the heaviness of daily battles really seems to diminish a little more.  Maybe I’ll get better at it and soon it won’t take much effort at all!  

Year End Reflections

Since the school year is winding up, I view it as my end of the year, and it is only appropriate to sit back and reflect on what a year this has been.

Overall, I am beyond pleased as I look back and remember what has happened.  What a year of growing, learning, and true wonder.

I LOVED the amazing group of kids that was lent to me for the past 9 months.  Sure, there were plenty of bumps and bruises along the way, but these kiddos brought so much joy to each and every day.  This year was indeed a challenge personally.  I spent the majority of the year so torn about what to do come the last day of school, and spent way too many hours on the search for different apartments to live in in order to flee the horribly built places here in Branson.  I feel like all I ever do is pack!!  Ick!  It was also hard being so far away from my family, and since the majority of my friends have found other places to trek off to, it was difficult without as much support from outside of my classroom.  I also did learn to trust more openly, and give up a bit of control in my life, which was difficult!!  I feel that I am still in the major process of this lesson and prayers are welcomed! :)  It's also kinda funny because something that I remember from my 6th grade report card was that, in one area, I got marked "needs improvement," and that area was: risk taking.  Well, I think right now is my time where I am finally able to say that I now can move that mark to "satisfactory."  I am taking one big risk giving up my job and wandering into the great unknown future.

This year my students were truly my saving grace.  My kids and families were unbelievably appreciative, supportive, and uplifting.  They were my family and home during the year which gave me the reason and purpose to get up along with invest so many hours into my job.  They took away the annoyances and made teaching them the most rewarding thing I can think of.  I can truly say that I am dreading the last day of school.  Little pieces of them will be carried with me in my heart.

So, on another note, I had the kids write to a prompt the other day.  They needed to tell their readers something only they know about me.  It was sooooo fun to read through what they picked up on through the time of our bonding.  Here are some of my favorite responses: (please forgive the mistakes...remember, they are only 2nd graders :) )

*Dear Next Years Class,
     This paper is a secert all about Ms. Johnson.  Well her birthday is April 27.  She will not tell how old she is but we found out what day and month is was.  The good thing is she is so nice, sweet, kind, helpful, conssdrite, and lots more things.  But this is the bad thing when she gets mad she is mad.  So I would be on your best behavier.  If you are not lissoning I would start lissoning.  You will have a great year and you will have so much fun, lagh all day long.  When you have a subtoot (substitute) just imagine it is Ms. Johnson.  Do your best on all of your tests.  And pay all and I mean all of the hug tax.  Just don't give her a hard time.

*Ms. Johnson is nice because Ms. Johnson gets us sprizes.  Her favorite football team is the green bay packers and her favorite coler is green.

*Dear next years class,
Ms. Johnson is as fun as going to the zoo.  I need to let you no Ms. Johnson hates humming. (Hehe, it drives me NUTS and I made that clear from the beginning of the year!) She loves cookies.  She also loves good classes.


*I have some advice for you.  Do your own work and don't make Ms. Johnson do the thinking and don't make the other kids do the thinking. (I do tell them this quite frequently!) P.S. Ms. Johnson doesn't like bugs.


*Dear 2nd grade class,
    Ms. Johnson has a dog named Bella she is as cute as a button.  Ms. Johnson is the nices teacher on earth.  Hay you shood love Ms. Johnson.


*Dear students,
She is very cool and very nice helpfoll fun and cinda crazi.  A grait teacher knos a lot.  Shes not meen.  Just remember not to hum or wistle thats when she gets crazi.


*Ms. Johnson is very nice because she likes to plan fun stuff.  Ms. Johnson also likes triking you a lot so wach out.  And she likes to have a lot of fun with everybody.  And she likes a lot of suger.

*Dear next years class,
The first day of school brin a cookie because Ms. Johnson will want a cookie tax.  Ms. Johnson will also want something green because she loves the packers.  If you get an A on a test Ms. Johnson might give you a jolly rancher and she will also let you have a snack on daily 5.


*I want to tell you about my teacher Ms. Johnson.  First of all she is very nice and sometimes she plans fun activeties like making chalk and doing fun stoff with white shaving cream.  She has a dog named bella.  She knos a lot of cool spanish Because she used to take spanish class.  her favorite color is green.  she likes the team green bay pakers.  She likes pokadots too.


*These are some things you should now about Ms. Johnson.  She's nice, she likes spring green, she likes her moms oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, she is a really good teacher, she is funny, and she has a puppy named Bella.  Thats what you should now about Ms. Johnson.


*Dear next years class do you now something crazy abowt Mis. Johnson her dog is name Ball tahts the same name as my uncl's dog.  She loves poladots she is alurgic to diry so make sure she dosit drink it.  Shes allsow a sweet-hart if you behave. Sometimes she'll call you funne names when she is doing the friday folders and tats my pal mis. Johnson.


*My sekent grad techer Mis. Johnson has a dog named bella.  Mis. Johnson loves cookies and wader.  Mis. Johnson loves her class.  She likes pokadots.  She us to live in minusoda.  She dus not like bugs.


*Dear Class,
     Ms. Johnson lafs like a hiena and she eats cookies like the cookie monster.  She yous to pot a ginny pig on a leesh and take it for a walk.  She got Bella her puppy from a barn.  Remember to be wonderful.


I just LOVE my little polka-dots!!  It's amazing how well they know me! :)  How sweet are they??

Today I read the book, Oh the Places You'll Go.  I got the book from my grandma for graduation and just love the message in the story.  It also had a dual purpose since I wanted it to inspire the students for their future, and it helped explain more my purpose in leaving my job.  We all need to take the chances and go down the paths we feel lead to discover!  I cried at the end, and I think I had the majority of the class in tears as well.  I can't describe the bond that we all feel.  We are more than a class.  We are a family.

a time for everything.

I'm wondering what my time might be right now.  I'm torn with what to do for this next season of my life.

Ecclesiastes 3
A Time for Everything

There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep ad a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

Do You Have a Dream?

Well, we sure have dreams in our class!  We have been reading about Martin Luther King Jr. and learning TONS from him.  We watched part of his "I Have a Dream" speech and then we wrote dreams of our very own.  I was so uplifted by their dreams for the world, and I hope you are too!

Here are some of the dreams they wrote down:
(I kept their cute little spellings :) )

*I have a dream that I will help Ms. johson so the calss can work hard.   ~yay!!! :)
*I have a dream that evrybudy had enough money for evry one to have a home, food, and stuff they need.  (we learned about putting commas between lists and it was even carried over into social studies work!!!!!!!)
*I have a dream that one day I could be a scientist that makes medison to help lots of people.
*I have a dream to get money for the school so that more kids can learn more.
*I have a dream that the school were three store (stories) tall so ever one that has no skols can come to this school adn get wellcomed.
*I have a dream that the weld (world) will be a better place because we want less liter.
*I have a dream that one day there will be more hosbitls so that ever one that gets sick can go to a hosbitls.
*I have a dream that there is lese candy in the world because you won't to be helfe.
*I have a dream that I code help the hole wolde and save people in the fite.
*I have a dream that nobody will be a bully in the world.
*I have a dream that evey one has a house, mouny, clothing, and food, and people could help eacher read.
*I have a dream that every one in the world wold get FREEDOM!
*I have a dream that one day no one will liy.
*I have a dream that they wold give a home to people that do not have them so they wote diey in the cold or hot.
*I have a dream that everyone whod be safe for the unightidstates of ameraca. and never get hert.
*I have a dream that the hold world new marton's BIG word's. 

It's amazing the impact that MLK Jr. has even on such young kiddos.  They have been so interested in the work he did.  We read a book called, Martin's Big Words which talked about Martin's fight with words.  One student brought up the point that we don't want to fight, even with our words.  This lead into a great discussion about how this fight was different than using hateful words; it was about taking a stand for what you believe in and following your dreams.  We talk about how Martin used words like love, peace, freedom and equality for his fight.

We did an egg demonstration that I found on Pinterest that I loved.  The lesson they learned was fairly obvious, but it was such a good visual of the fact that no matter what the outside looks like, the inside is the same.  We couldn't find a single difference between the two eggs' insides.  Here is a picture of what we did: